Whether you plan to buy a modest studio or a four-bedroom penthouse, how much you can afford to borrow primarily rests on two main factors: income and interest rates. Income growth seems to be increasing, thus increasing affordability. However, the near certainty of future rate hikes will likely be a drag on affordability. Read More ›

We’ve posted the December First American Loan Application Defect Index, which estimates the frequency of defects, fraudulence and misrepresentation in the information submitted in mortgage loan applications. The Defect Index remains the same as compared with the previous month, and increased 20.3 percent as compared with December 2016. The Defect ... Read More ›

That nominal house prices are growing faster than household incomes is often used as the basis for arguing that we are facing an affordability crisis. It is true that unadjusted house prices grew faster than income between November 2016 and November 2017. Our Real House Price Index (RHPI) showed that unadjusted house prices increased by 6.0 ... Read More ›

It’s been just over five years since house prices reached their trough and the housing market bottomed out. In the years following that low point, there has been a lot of discussion about how to increase demand and, specifically, why young adults today didn’t want to buy homes. I believed that the lack of desire among millennials was not a ... Read More ›

First American’s proprietary Potential Home Sales model examines December 2017 data and includes analysis from First American Chief Economist Mark Fleming on how the real estate market is performing versus its potential. Read More ›

The end of 2017 brought mixed news for housing starts, according to Thursday’s release of December 2017 housing starts data, which marked the first report on national housing data this year. Read More ›